History’s worst outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed more than 1000 people. Medical officials face an ethical question: who should receive a tiny supply of drugs never tested on human beings, which might do more harm than good? We’ll give an update on a public health emergency that could go worldwide.

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History’s worst outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed more than 1000 people. The most urgent need is to stop the spread caused by sharing bodily fluids. A single airline passenger brought it to Lagos, Nigeria, a densely populated city where sanitation facilities are hard to come by. Medical officials face an ethical question: who should receive a tiny supply of drugs never tested on human beings, which might do more harm than good? We’ll give an update on a public health emergency that could go worldwide.

Also, why do cops in Ferguson, Missouri look like soldiers in Iraq?

Banner Image: A technician sets up an assay for Ebola within a containment laboratory. Samples are handled in negative-pressure biological safety cabinets to provide an additional layer of protection; Credit: Dr. Randal J. Schoepp

After five days of protest since police in Ferguson, Missouri killed an unarmed black man, President Obama addressed the issue today. Interrupting his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, he said there will be different accounts of how it occurred. David Nakamura is a White House reporter for the Washington Post.

Lagos, Nigeria, is a city of 21 million people — and the first large urban center hit by an outbreak of the Ebola virus. Tim Cocks of the Reuters news service reports that health officials call Lagos “a perfect environment for the virus to spread.” We’ll hear about efforts to prevent further spread of a deadly virus with no known cure, and about ethical questions: Should medications be administered even when they’ve never been tested on human beings? And who should be first to get them?

Missouri Governor Jay Dixon may replace local police with other law enforcement in the aftermath of a police shooting death in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis. This decision comes due to the way protests have been handled by the mostly white police force in a neighborhood that’s mostly African-American. Police officers dressed like soldiers used tear gas to break up the latest protest over the police killing of an unarmed black man last Saturday. It’s another dramatic demonstration of a trend in local law enforcement in the United States. Radley Balko blogs for the Washington Post.